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Virtual Rapes Are New Trend In GTA Live

In a disturbing new trend, “Grand Theft Auto V” gamers are virtually raping the avatars controlled by other people playing online. They then post videos of their exploits on YouTube.

The virtual rapists modify the game’s code to let them do things they otherwise couldn’t. They choose a naked or pantless man as their character, lock him to another player and play an animation that thrusts his pelvis back and forth.

A Reddit user with the handle “mrerikmattila” described the experience of being a victim. “You cannot kill him and there is nothing you can do about it,” he wrote of his virtual rapist. “Worse, when he’s done, you are stuck doing strip dances.”

Rockstar Games, which publishes the series, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the past, Rockstar has pushed back against accusations that its games depict rape. Last year, when a video-game blogger at PlayStation Universe thought he encountered a rape scene in “Grand Theft Auto V,” Rockstar responded that the episode in question was “meant to depict and imply cannibalism, not rape.”